Advertise on podcast: Pop Culture Field Manual

We recently did an episode on Insurgency in pop culture, but this week, we’re going to dive a little deeper with a man who spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears hunting for them in Iraq: Jack Treadway. His new book, Insurgent Hunter is out now. JACK TREADWAY served as a Navy SEAL with SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two and SEAL Team Five, where he became a sniper. He was also a BUDS instructor. Later he earned his commission in the air force and served as a federal agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI). He investigated a sexual assault case that resulted in national coverage before he ran other operations such as narcotics. Next, he was assigned to an expeditionary detachment in Iraq, running confidential informants and conducting counterinsurgency operations—hunting insurgents. To wrap up the episode, Jack tries his hand at a game called "This Quiz Will Make You (I)Raq Your Brains."

The long talked about, finally realized interview with our legendary theme song singer, Stan Bush! Learn about Stan's life in music, some fun anecdotes about Van Damme and more. A little about Stan Bush: Worldwide icon of melodic rock Stan Bush is best known for his song “The Touch,” made famous by Transformers: The Movie (1986). An anthem for Transformers fans around the world, “The Touch” was remixed in 2013 by High Moon Studios for their hit video game Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. It has also been featured on ABC’s The Goldbergs, NBC’s Chuck, FOX’s American Dad, in RBN’s Guitar Hero, Deep Silver’s Saints Row IV and in the motion picture Boogie Nights. This fantastic interview caps off with a rousing game of “A Trivia Game Just For Stan Bush.” How much Stan Bush adjacent trivia does Stan Bush know? Listen to find out!

What makes a certain character’s death so satisfying? We’ve been down this road. We’ve walked this walk and talked this talk. This is the sequel to our Season 2 Episode 20 The Killshot, talking about all of those suuuuper satisfying kills in film, tv and video games. Today Izzy and Cam are going to cover all the things we didn’t get around to the first time. The headshots, the explosions and all those tasty bits of revenge that makes a certain characters death all the more satisfying. This episode wraps up with a spirited game of “Hey! Who’s Killing Who Here?” Izzy will be put through the paces and maybe he'll learn a bit about American history.

Everyone loves a good underdog story. The scrappy band of misfits up against the world, and then ultimately, the misfits win. Insurgency and rebellion are like that. Usually a smaller force, fighting the good fight, up against a larger corrupt group. (Not always, but in pop culture, usually) And you want the little rebels to win. And that’s just what Cam and Izzy are going to discuss in today’s episode; the freedom fighters that could and some that couldn't. Cam tries his hand at this week's game "Rebel WITH A Cause." It's a measure of how much of a rebel you are, or at the very least, rebel adjacent.

SERE stands for Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape. Military schools with a long history rooted in WWII and Vietnam teach military personnel how to survive in the wilderness, evade enemy capture, resist their captors when taken and held by the enemy, and escape their imprisonment if possible. Izzy took SERE in the Special Forces Q Course and Cameron has been a student of survival for some time. This episode Izzy and Cam will talk about their personal experiences as well as how survival is portrayed in pop culture. This week's game devolves into a lesson on the Code of the United States Fighting Force, which is both informative and fun.

Welcome back to another episodes where we talk exclusively about games and gaming. It’s not secret that gaming is one of the biggest if not THE biggest hobbies out there. It’s big business. It’s in the culture and it’s definitely in the military. We’ve done episodes dealing with video games in seasons one and two. But let’s be honest, what true nerd is ever finished talking about video games. Izzy and Cam cover a lot of ground in this one, including the Halo franchise, 6 Days in Fallujah, Ready or Not, and much much more. The game for this episode is “Video Game Excitement Super Fan Trivia Okay!” A true test of Izzy's nerdiness.

With 2023 firmly in their rearview, it's time for Izzy and Cam to look back and take stock of the year. That's right, folks, it's the PCFM 2023 Year In Review. What were the highs? What were the lows? What pieces of pop culture took them to new heights and which abysmal pieces of crap sent them spiraling in a hate fueled rant, wishing death upon their creators? This episode is tied with a lovely bow of a game called "Two Truths and a Lie - TV Show Edition." Can Cam see the lies or will he be blinded by the absurdity of the truth?

This week in our continuing series of episodes focusing on one person or franchise, we’re turning our big PCFM spotlight onto Sylvester Stallone. If Arnold Schwarzenegger is the granddaddy of all action heroes, then Stallone is certainly the well-to-do uncle. Uncle Sly has been in his fair share of movies and at 77, he’s still making them. Certainly one of the great action icons of our time. Izzy and Cam breakdown everything Stallone and what makes the Italian Stallion such an icon. To end this episode, we've brought back our most popular game (probably) "Who's One Liner Is It Anyway?" Can Izzy overcome his paralyzing fear of being wrong about movie quotes and emerge victorious? Happy New Year PCFM Fam!

Explosions. They’re everywhere. In the battlefield, in your home, in old abandoned Iron smelting factories bad guys use as hideouts. Explosions are as much a part of action pop culture as fists and guns. They can start the plot, enhance it, end it, or actually ruin everything….sometimes literally. Today Cam and Izzy are talking all things ‘splody. So let’s take off and nuke the entire site from orbit….it’s the only way to be sure. A rousing game of "Explosive Fact or Explosive Fiction" ends the episode and is played, and played well, by Cameron who delights in all things boom boom. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

We’re going to cut right to the chase. DINOSAURS. They’re awesome. Always have been, always will be. There’s absolutely no denying it and only a weak-willed communist would say different. So how can pop culture possibly ever hope to improve upon what is already the best thing ever? By having people hunt them and generally, die doing so. And that’s what Izzy and Cam are here to talk about today: all those sorry idiots that think they can outsmart dinosaurs. Humans are only here because dinosaurs went extinct and they are our superiors. This dino-tastic episode ends with a game of "What's in a Name?" How much of a dinosaur nerd is Izzy? Let's find out!

The Sniper film franchise started in 1993 with the original Sniper starring Tom Berenger and has gone on to spawn 10 films in total with the latest SNIPER: G.R.I.T. releasing soon on Netflix. In a world of rising and falling franchises it’s quite the achievement. To talk about the Sniper franchise and a whole lot more Izzy and Cam are honored to have with them a very special guest for this episode: the star of Sniper Reloaded, Sniper Legacy, Sniper Ghost Shooter, Sniper Ultimate Kill, Sniper Assassin's End, Sniper Rogue Mission AND Sniper G.R.I.T. , Chad Michael Collins! The episode is capped with a special game of "One Shot, One Skill", played by Chad Michael Collins who does way better than any other guest has done.

Battle is bloody. There’s no arguing that. But what of war and battle in pop culture? There’s a whole spectrum of goriness, from the bloodless G.I. Joe cartoon from the 80’s to the brutal mayhem of Apocalypto. Cam and Izzy are here to talk about their favorite blood and guts pop culture (horror excluded) moments of all time. You might even find out that's there's something called "too gory." A fun game of "What's My Body Count?" rounds out the episode with Cam doing his best to remember exactly how many people have died in every film he's ever seen.